More than just a thank you
by WhoAmI2Judge07
Summary: ................... i dnt no wot 2 say? its a Hinata/Saskue thing ..... yeah, read please rating may change
1. Prologue

More than just a "Thank you"

**More than just a "Thank you"**

She lent almost cautiously against the large red gate of the villages entrance, almost as though she feared the added weight of her small body would strain the hinges of the great oak wood doors.

Her fingers tightened protectively about the cloth of the small package in her hands, gaze cast to the ground as her mind wandered behind glazed lavender eyes.

She didn't register the soft footfall on the grassless path, didn't realise he had arrived until his sandals grazed the edge of her view.

"Is it okay… to end it like this?" Her gaze refused to stray from his feet, but she could easily guess his expression.

Stoic, every situation was met, with such a face, detached, uninterested, bored even.

"Are you really fine leaving all this behind. Your team, your friends. All that you've worked towards all that you achieved-"

"What have I achieved Hyuuga-san" He breathed, his voice heavy with curiosity, invisible fingers draw her face up to see his.

"I'm curious as to what you have been thinking. You who has never spoken more than two words to me in our entre lives. You who has never seen me beyond the loving gaze directed at the dobe."

Her gaze narrowed on him slightly, her heart not completely objectant (my word) to his words, therefore not at liberty to admonish him entirely.

However…

"I did see you." She breathed, and her gaze left his, settling on the line of trees behind him in order to keep her nerve.

"I saw you, and admired you in the same way I saw Naruto. You… loved by all knew your goal, whereas I… hated by my own family even, could only follow the goal they have set for me. Even now, I am bound by them."

He snorted with duress, a flicker of contempt glistening in his eyes at her words.

"Admired my goal to kill my brother."

"I did not say I knew your goal, only that I admired you for having one."

Silence enshrouded the two as they stood together, the chill breeze picking up about them as if to ease the growing tension. Time was running out for him.

"Is that it? Or will you tug on my heart strings a moment longer?" His words were spat with impatience and contempt.

She suppressed a sombre smirk.

"Always too eager, Saskue-kun. What can you not learn from the elders about you? What can you not learn here that your brother forfeited?"

"You are not like me. You're family was not torn away from you."

"Yes they were. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. I am merely a ghost who graces their halls, seen yet not heard. If I died, they would go on the same. I have no one but myself"

He was silent, watching her with veiled curiosity, dark orbs flickering over her facial expression which had not altered once, even as she spoke of her own inadequacy. He never knew the lavender eyed lily held such a poker face.

"Neji, He tried to kill you."

A small smile graced her lips, her gaze met his once more, this time of her own volition.

"Hai… He was praised, whereas I was once more admonished for being weak. I seek power just as much as you Uchiha-san, only I do not steal myself away in the middle of the night. I will strive to find my own strength."

"Ah." He chided. "But I am on a timeline, one you have lowered significantly with meaningless words. If I do not kill him, someone else will. I will not lose my revenge to anyone."

He made to pass her, but a small tug on the hem of his shirt caused him to pause.

"Why do you try so hard Hyuuga. What will my stay benefit with you."

Her grip faltered, the material falling through slender fingers. He continued on.

"I don't want to see Sakura cry… I don't want Naruto to hate himself… I don't want-"

"Naruto. I should have known. A world that revolves around that fool must be sickeningly bright." He sneered in disgust, he didn't turn to her. "Go tell Naruto he is welcome to his fairytale, his futile dreams of Hokage. I will follow my path and kill him if he gets in the way."

She was before him in an instant, and Saskue allowed a glimmer of surprise to cross his face at her speed… and the sting running down the side of his face. He barely registered her tears.

"I… I… I don't, want you to go…"

He blinked.

"We are the same, yet different. I have seen you, so many times…"

Again he blinked.

"I'm not confessing…" Her voice was soft, the words whispered softly. "I'm just telling you how I feel."

He said nothing, mind trying to process all that she had said. It was only when she pressed something hard into his chest that he awoke to reality.

"What's t-"

"A bento. I…I knew you would leave, no matter what I said, so I prepared this for you… I know that tomatoes are your favourite."

His hands wrapped about the case when she stepped away from him, then wrapped about her wrist when she made to pass him.

"I want you to know."

She didn't look at him, she couldn't bring herself to let him see the tears welling in her eyes.

"I won't betray Konoha. I will come back one day."

And in a second his face before hers, his eyes burning with intensity as his words fanned across her lips.

"I'll come back for you."

And on that fateful night, when the last Uchiha left Konohagure, Hyuuga Hinata received more than just a thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

**A/N thanks for the reviews **shadowsaver and lifes-2-short**. I will tell you honestly though, I'm not sure how long this will go on 'cos I don't plan out the chapters… or a plot so its really reeeeally easy for me to get writers block. Sorry.**

**I am writing loosely by the timeline of the manga so sorry if I give spoilers . but hey at least I warned you **

**Also… I know I wrote that tomatoes are Sasuke's favourite but where did that come from? I'm not sure if I heard it in a rumor, fanart, or the manga/anime and its been bugging me for awhile so if you know where you saw that (if you saw that) can you tell me please.**

**Ok that was long sorry….**

It was a lie.

It had to be a lie.

"_Squad 2 is out!"_

"_5 down!"_

"_We need some back up here!"_

"_What the fuck are you guys playing at! Is there anyone out there!"_

"_Shit! Shit! Shit! Sakura's seriously hurt! Ino! We need a medic here!"_

"_All squads retreat, that's a direct order from Hokage-sama"_

"K-Kiba…?"

It was definitely a lie. He said he would come back for her… he said he would never betray Konoha, so why…

"Hinata! We gotta get out of here!"

"K-Kiba…"

So why were her hands drenched in her best friends blood, why was her stunned body being dragged from his lifeless form.

"No…"

"Damn it Hinata! He's gone! We have to get out of here before those sound bastards turn their attention on us!"

"No… No! we can't just leave him there like that! We can't just leave him!"

She was on her feet now, struggling against the arms that held her back, hating them with a passion she had found for nothing else. Tear glazed lavender eyes didn't register the shadow speeding towards them, nor the flicker of red, black and white that glinted beneath the evening sun. Not even when it stopped directly in her line of sight, stepping uncautiously over the corpse.

It was only when the grip on her arms loosened and the confused voice of the boy behind her reached her ears, that her gaze fell on that of the new arrival.

"W-what is this?"

He was the same.

The same but so very different as she caught the contempt in his eyes as he watched the two. Taller, paler, his shoulders broader even, but still the same as the day he had made his promise, and left her behind.

"Teme! What the fuck! Why the hell are you here! Whatever you came just in time to help."

Sometimes Hinata cursed Naruto's slowness, it made things so much harder, the pain that much difficult to bare. She didn't want to hear _him_ say it. Didn't want to hear him openly and plainly admit he had turned his back on those who cared for him in the same impassive voice he would call Naruto a dobe but at the same time a small smile would reach his eyes.

So it makes sense that she would drop immediately into the offensive position of the Hyuuga style and launch herself at him. Regardless of the tears the flowed from her eyes.

"Hinata! What are you doing!"

Sasuke smirked a he dodged her effortlessly, his crimson eyes locked on her chakra control, the natural poise and grace in her attacks. She had grown, she was stronger, but there was still that insurmountable gap between them.

"She is fighting her enemy."

"What enemy? You're from Konoha just like us!"

_Shut up_

"Aa…"

"Stop attacking him Hinata, we've got to get out of here!"

_Please Naruto, for your sake… shut up_

She watched as his lip twitched in mirth, silently laughing at the boy as he deluded himself, fought to avoid the truth of the situation.

"We'll about that…" he breathed.

She stopped short her attack as a shrill scream emitted behind her, turning on her heels to find Naruto sprawled across the grass, a gigantic sword protruding from the base of his spine.

"Naruto!"

"You let down your guard"

Eyes widened as her feet sunk into the ground as though she was standing in quicksand only look down and find that it was hard as it was just moments ago.

Trapped.

"But… you're from Konoha too teme…"

She closed her eyes to the image of Naruto's desperate face, refusing to watch as his first true friend, the boy he had seen as a brother, stomped on the last of the light in his eyes.

"Yes… I was, as was Orochimaru, as was my brother."

"You hated those bastards!"

The splutter of blood against the grass was heard as Naruto coughed in exertion.

"Yes. I did, and now they are both dead."

She almost heard the chime go off in Naruto's head.

"The attack… the cloak. No… Sasuke wouldn't."

"I did. I killed Orochimaru almost two years now, have you been searching hard? Killed Itachi as well, and for the price of information, I am lending a hand to Akatsuki and their purpose, starting with the decimation of Konohagure."

"But this was your home too!"

Sasuke 'tched' behind her back as watched the blonde grasp at straws, as envious of his ignorance as he detested it. With a motion of his hand the boy was hoisted non to gently onto Kisame's shoulder and the shark man leaped of into the distance.

They were alone now. He registered the tenseness of her shoulders, the tears still falling from her cheeks.

He rounded her, taking in the change of her apparel and features.

Her waist length hair pulled up into a high pony the trailed down her back, the mildly form fitting mesh shirt that covered her black tube top. Her headband was wrapped about her slender waist now, a belt for the hipster shorts that did nothing to conceal her weapons pouch. He smirked when he noticed a set of boots and bandage similar to ones he had once worn.

He stopped before her, his eyes trailing her features, more mature, but still as innocent as he remembered.

"I kept my promise."

Her eyes opened to a narrowed glare, and for the first he had seen from the once timid girl, he was mildly impressed..

"I do believe these are your troops." She spat, causing him to smirk once more.

"Aa… minor technicality, though you are aware that I wasn't referring to that promise."

"That promise wasn't made by you. That was a promise made by a Sasuke that I knew."

"Aa, but then would that not apply to the first promise as well. So it makes no sense to hold that against me."

"You know, if you had just told me the truth I wouldn't hate you as much as I do now"

"That was the truth… at that time."

"I waited for you to come back. years I w

"The truth I knew changed."

She struggled not to flinch when his breath fanned across her neck, the thickness in his voice as drowning as it was terrifying.

"But one truth will always remain."

She gasped at the sharp pain in the base of her neck as her eyes glazed over with an invisible film of black, the feeling of falling the last to engulf her as she heard the smug chime-like whisper of the man before her.

"You will always be weak in one way or another."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Again thank you for the reviews appreciated. Errrrm, in this one I was allowed to write the initial draft 'cos my friend's mum (I'm staying with them while on holiday in S.Korea yay!) banned me from the computer (not so yay!) so its kind of weird 'cos I'm weird… I barely concentrate when writing on paper, and I reeeally can't concentrate when writing with a pencil…. Or if for some reason (someone kept changing my pen) the pen ink changes colour. Yeah…. So bits are weird and when I did get on the computer now it's on deadline 'cos she doesn't no I'm on it…. Seriously, she took the mouse's so that I wouldn't be able to do anything if I got on . but luckily I'm a computer genious heh heh heh……**

**Ah kinda got off track. Ah yes, because of the deadline I'm not changing anything from the draft (which was done weirdly remember, because I'm weird… it talks about it the first paragraph)……..**

**I should really just post this.**

**Ok! Bye!**

**Please enjoy! even though its weird --;;**

**Characters are kinda OC….. **cos its weird…

**OK for real now. I'm gonna stop typing A/N NOW!**

Chapter 3

우우우

She awoke (and to a certain extent, even that surprised her) to the soft crackling of a dying fire, unbound, but unable to see.

Cautiously she rose her hands to her face to find her eyelids were indeed open. So that meant she was… blind?

"Genjutsu" He eyes narrowed at the person before her. "The illusion of blindness"

"And you have put it on me because?"

"You will runaway otherwise."

"I believe the term, Uchiha-san, is escape, as runaway gives the optional connotation that I am supposed to be here."

"You are. I made a promise."

"We have had this conversation already, Uchiha-san." Using the tree as a guide, Hinata stood to her feet, steadying herself before "looking" left and right.

Sasuke watched her through lidded eyes as she searched hopelessly for her bearings, ignoring the slight sting to his heart when she addressed him so formally, before turning his gaze skyward.

She was already distracting him, he deduced, as he watched the stars gradually ebb out of existence, signalling the approach of dawn. He had only travelled a hundred and eighty five miles from where he had encountered her, before nightfall had set upon them, he had been too preoccupied double checking that the figure in his arms _had_ been Hinata and not some evil dream in which she would poof out of existence, to keep up a decent pace. That's why he had placed the genjutsu on her, if she used her byakugen (sp?) and found out how close they actually were to Konohagure, she would stop at nothing to escape him.

'_At least this way she will have to rely on me to go any…_' His thoughts trailed off as his gaze fell on the spot were Hinata was _supposed _to be, and cursed inwardly.He had only ever tried that technique on normal vision, and the byakugen was hardly that, would it even _work_ on a Hyuuga? At that thought he leaped to his feet, activating his sharingan as his gaze flickered about the surrounding area.

There! To his left!... in the direction of Konoha...

"Shit"

In moments he had took off after her, the half spent fire all but forgotten.

우우우

Hinata was pissed.

It was hard enough to find out that he had avenged his family by taking his brothers life, yet had still refused to return to Konoha, but to join Akatsuk and _attack_ the village? To hand Naruto over to his death so easily and unfeelingly, to kidnap and _blind_ her. Hinata was pissed, and she was not one to be so easily vexed.

"I should have known the genjutsu would be short lived through the eyes of the byakugen."

A vexed Hinata was not one to be crossed.

Not pausing for a breath, she launched six kunai's in a horizontal line in the direction his voice had originated from, before manoeuvring herself into the middle of the clearing, her head tilted slightly to the side as she faced her enemy.

Saskue smirked as he leaped away from the onslaught, her eyes following his every movement as he drew closer to her. 50 feet, 40 feet, 30 feet, again he had to dodge an assault of kunai by jumping out of range. His smirk fell.

"How long until it managed to break the genjutsu, five minutes? Ten? I couldn't have been looking away for more than fifteen."

She said nothing, only watching him with a blank gaze that irritated him more than the fact that he was actually _asking_ a question, rather than the usual stoic statement/"question" he would usually "ask".

**(A/N If you don't understand, its basically when you ask a question in a neutral yet deadly serious tone that intimidates the person into answering)**

Hinata focused on his voice and position, left hand hovering over one of her kunai holster as the other grasped at the five in her hand, waiting for the slightest indication that he would move. She didn't grace him with answers to his questions, it was hard enough to hear him over the pounding of her heart in her ears. The truth was that as soon as she felt his gaze leave her, she had taken off. If he believed his genjutsu had warn off, who was she to tell him otherwise? At least this way he was being more cautious of approaching her than he would be if he knew she was relying on her hearing and sense of smell to pinpoint him.

Not that this was a disadvantage. She had trained this way many times before in the past, believing that relying on her eyes would eventually nullify her abilities, but her opponents then had all been people she was familiar with and had been able to distinguish their unique scents.

Her best bet was to keep him at bay for the time being – that was the logical thought pattern running through her mind, however, the bastard kept talking.

A vexed Hinata, was often time, an illogical Hinata.

우우우

Steel rang out against steel as Saskue countered her chakra induced blow with mild difficulty, pushing her back only a few meters.

'_Damn_…' Maybe it was wrong to think Hinata crouched on the grass her kunai held out defensively in front of her as she glowered up at him was… an enticing image. Maybe if he was concentrating more on the fact that she hesitated momentarily before launching each attack, holding her head slightly to the side as though waiting for something rather than how good she looked with a sharp dangerous object in her hand, he would have noti-

'_Wait, what?_' His brow furrowed minutely, his stance loosening slightly as he watched her. She didn't move.

Curious, his eyes trained on her for the slightest movement, he shifted his foot in the grass swiftly casting a kunai to his left.

Crimson eyes widened imperceptively as her head shifted in the direction of the kunai, casting three of her own in that direction also.

She was listening to him! That meant… he could have laughed- would have laughed if it wouldn't have given away his position… and if he was the type to laugh. Instead he settled for a smug smirk, she wasn't even looking in his direction anymore.

'_This… could be slightly amusing_' he thought to himself as he slid two more kunai out of his pouch.

Little did he know… a vexed Hinata was not in the least bit funny…

**A/N!! and if you wanna find out why our little Hinata isn't funny when vex, tune into the next episode… unfortunately I don't know when that will be 'cos I'm gonna start learning the heguem soon so I won't have as much free time. I will still be writing though... unless she takes the keyboards next time but hopefully she won't.**

**Again I wanna say thanks to **blackraven615 **and **lifes-2-short** for reviewing on the second chapter and I'm soooooooooo happy 'cos I got 4 alerts on this story see the smile is extra big…… yah….. --;;;**

**Thanks again.**

**I'll update as soon as possible.**


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